Louisiana
Spring Shrimp Season to Open May 4
in Shrimp Management Zone 2
Posted:
4/27/06
The opening
date of the 2006 Louisiana spring shrimp season in Shrimp
Management Zone 2 was announced at the special April 26 meeting
of the Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Commission (LWFC).
The declaration of emergency, which established the season
opening date, followed a presentation of the latest biological
and hydrological data compiled by the Louisiana Department
of Wildlife and Fisheries Marine Fisheries Division and public
comment from shrimpers, members of the shrimp industry and
other concerned citizens.
The Louisiana
inshore shrimp seasons in Shrimp Management Zone 2 will open
at noon on Thursday, May 4. Zone 2 includes state waters from
the eastern shore of South Pass of the Mississippi River to
the western shore of Vermilion Bay and Southwest Pass at Marsh
Island.
The commission
also opened the closed portion of Louisiana offshore territorial
waters from the Atchafalaya River Ship Channel at Eugene Island
as delineated by the river channel buoy line westward to the
eastern shore of Freshwater Bayou Canal at 92 degrees 18 minutes
33 seconds west longitude at noon on Thursday, May 4.
The LWFC
is scheduled to meet on Thursday, May 4 at 9:30 a.m. at LDWF
headquarters in Baton Rouge to consider the opening dates
of the spring inshore shrimp season in Zones 1 and 3.
Development of LDWF management recommendations for spring
inshore opening dates utilize criteria which project the date
when a minimum of 50 percent of the inshore brown shrimp population
sampled reaches sizes of 100 count (per pound) or larger.
Unseasonably mild water temperatures extending from January,
low Mississippi and Atchafalaya River discharge rates and
drought-like conditions throughout Louisiana's estuaries have
combined to produce highly favorable shrimp growing conditions
this spring. High survival of early recruited shrimp and rapid
growth rates have produced shrimp sizes above the long-term
mean in these waters.
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